Baghdad, Iraq ? In the first targeting of Iraq’s tiny Christian community by the insurgency, 11 people died Sunday when five car bombs exploded outside churches filled with worshippers.

In what appeared to be a series of closely coordinated attacks, four churches were struck in Baghdad and one in the northern city of Mosul during a 30-minute period timed to coincide with Sunday evening services. At least 50 people were wounded, according to the U.S. military.

The successive explosions rolled across the capital starting at 6:30 p.m. local time, sending huge plumes of smoke billowing into the sky and sowing panic among the city’s Christians.

Mass had just started at the Armenian Our Lady of the Flowers Church in Baghdad’s central Karrada neighborhood when the first blast struck.

The explosion ignited a nearby generator and set off a big blaze; a handful of people were lightly injured by flying glass, according to witnesses.

Twenty minutes later, a second blast rocked the nearby Assyrian Our Lady of Salvation Church, sending police, emergency services workers and onlookers who had gathered at the site of the first explosion scurrying for cover.

The blast ignited several cars and sent shattered glass flying through the packed church. Some of dead at the church were passers-by, officials said.

Alfred Beshoori, 72, said he and his wife and daughter had just taken Communion when the bomb went off.

“We saw the roof, pieces of glass and everything else coming down on us,” said Beshoori, sitting beside his wife, Violet Gogue, who was at Ibn Nafiz Hospital with wounds to her head, neck and shoulder.

“People started running for the doors. People near the cars were burned severely,” Beshoori said. “There was fire and smoke everywhere.”

An Iraqi carries a man injured after a bomb blast in front of a Christian church in Baghdad, Iraq. A series of coordinated explosions rocked five churches Sunday across Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, killing 11 people in the first attacks targeting the country's Christian minority.

The Rev. Louis, a priest at the church, stumbled around in shock after the explosion, his shirt spattered with blood from a wound to his forehead.

“It is a terrible thing to target the house of God, whether it’s Christian, Muslim or Jewish,” he said, wailing. “These are innocent people who were created only to love each other.”

U.S. Army Col. Mike Murray, whose forces cordoned off the church, said the car bomb contained up to 200 pounds of explosives, augmented by artillery shells.

“I’ve talked to a lot of Iraqis, Shiite, Sunni and Christian, and they all respect each other’s religions,” he said, blaming the insurgency for the attacks.

Another car bomb was discovered outside a third church in the Karrada neighborhood, where many Christians live, but it was defused, U.S. military officials said. They said it did not appear any of the attacks were suicide missions, but investigations continue.

Two more blasts followed, one outside a church in the southern neighborhood of al-Dora and another in the eastern district of New Baghdad.

The car bomb in New Baghdad exploded between a mosque and a church, and all of the dozen or so victims taken away by ambulances were Muslims, witnesses said. It wasn’t clear whether any of the victims died, they said.

There are about 750,000 Christians in Iraq, most of them belonging to the ancient Chaldean Roman Catholic Church. Christian denominations also include Assyrian, Armenian, Syrian and Presbyterian.

As the Islamic insurgency has gathered pace, Christians have felt increasingly vulnerable, especially after a string of recent attacks on liquor stores, most of which are owned by Christians.

But this is the first time Christians have been directly attacked.

“I’m sure this is the beginning of a campaign against Christians. It was at a time when we were celebrating mass so they were targeting people, not just the building,” said Lance Conway, a bassoonist with Iraq’s National Orchestra who was singing in the choir at the church where the first blast struck.

“We have lived here in peace with Muslims for hundreds of years. We are all believers in God,” said Antranic Yargish Artine, the church’s gatekeeper, who was knocked over by the blast. “But there are enemies of God who want to start a civil war.”

A fifth bomb in the northern city of Mosul exploded outside a church about 7 p.m., according to a U.S. military statement.

Earlier in the day, a car bomb exploded outside a police station in Mosul as the morning shift was changing, continuing the targeting of Iraqi police by the insurgency.

Five people were killed and 40 injured, according to the U.S. military. A roadside bomb in downtown Baghdad killed two people.

There were also reports of 10 people killed in renewed fighting in Fallujah.